Cheapest Ways to Take Card Payments in 2023

Looking for a way to hear those cha-chings without breaking the bank? You’re not alone. With inflation rising over 7.9% in June 2023, your business needs to get money in while not shelling out a big cut to do so. On that note, our research found that Retail Merchant Services is the cheapest way to take payments among the 11 providers analysed.

It achieves this feat because it offers negotiable pricing, low account charges, and some of the cheapest transaction fees out there. This combination makes it one of the best card machine providers for small businesses out there.

If you’re still unsure of which payment taking system to pick, don’t worry: in this article, we cover pricing, pros, and cons of our top six contenders in this field, so you can find out which can serve you better.

The cheapest merchant services for taking card payments

Take a look at our top picks of merchant services we'd recommend to small UK businesses that are trying to keep their overheads down – which we suppose will be most of them!

The table above provides an at-a-glance overview and comparison of the providers; you can read on for a more thorough review of each one.

If you're short on time or want some extra support to find the best price, you can use our merchant service cost comparison tool to speed things up and to make sure you don't end up overspending.

1. Retail Merchant Services – Best for custom pricing

How cheap is Retail Merchant Services?

Retail Merchant Services provides the cheapest way to take card payments, according to our extensive testing. That’s due to its low transaction fees: 0.4% for debit cards, 0.8% for credit cards, and 0.79% + 10p for online payments.

Its account fee, which starts at a low £10 + VAT per month, can be negotiated. This means your business has a prime chance to strike a deal that doesn’t break your bank and reduces your overall cost.

This led to the provider topping the price category in our research with a perfect score of 5/5, beating Tyl’s 4.8/5 and Revolut’s 4.6/5. These providers charge a minimum transaction fee of 1.5% and 0.8% + 2p, respectively, but it’s worth noting that they don’t charge account fees, which is great if you’re keen on avoiding a fixed cost to take payments.

However, because Retail Merchant Services underperforms in compliance and customer support (it scored a low 2.6/5 for the latter, for example), this prevents it from being deemed as the best provider overall.

2. Tyl – Best for affordable hardware

How cheap is Tyl?

Like its mobile merchant account competitors, Tyl doesn’t charge an account fee and its transaction fee occupies a solid middle ground in the market. At 1.50%, it’s higher than Revolut’s 0.8% + 2p, but lower than Zettle’s 1.75%.

This was reflected in our merchant account analysis, where Tyl is the runner-up for price. That said, due to its fixed hardware fee (which starts at £6.99 + VAT per month), we think Tyl is best suited to medium-sized to large businesses.

However, Tyl’s features offering is subpar. It only offers four integrations against Revolut’s 16 and Zettle’s 21. It also lacks the multi-currency support that both Revolut and Zettle offer.

This makes Tyl a no-no for international business owners. Furthermore, because its integrations are all accounting-related, it’s not the best provider for ecommerce businesses.

3. Revolut – Best for simple PCI compliance

How cheap is Revolut?

As merchant accounts go, Revolut packs a punch – and its brass knuckles are definitely its low transaction fees.

Its transaction fees – 0.8% + 2p for in-person payments and 1% + 20p for online ones – are among the cheapest we encountered in our analysis. In comparison, Tyl’s transaction fee is 1.5% and Zettle’s starts at 1.75%.

Revolut’s compliance procedure is remarkably straightforward – a major plus for business owners who lack the time or resources to fill out extensive forms. It’s better than the long questionnaire required by takepayments, or Retail Merchant Services’ complete lack of compliance.

However, Revolut’s sole two reporting tools don’t make it the best fit for businesses that need data insights to grow. This offer is the same as Tyl’s but way less than Zettle’s (five) and takepayments’ (eight).

4. Zettle – Best for help and support

How cheap is Zettle?

Zettle takes fourth place on this list due to its starting transaction fee (1.75%), which is higher than takepayments’ (0.3%) and Retail Merchant Services’ (0.4%). That said, it doesn’t have any account fees, which the other two providers do.

Also, it has one of the cheapest hardware we looked into: Zettle’s entry reader costs £29 + VAT, cheaper than Revolut’s, which costs £49 + VAT. However, its high transaction fees dented Zettle's performance in the price category of our research, where our experts awarded it a 4.1/5 score.

Despite its pricing hiccups, Zettle’s reporting tools and integrations – which earnt the provider an excellent 4.9/5 score in our analysis of its features – make it a great card machine for small businesses, as they’ll benefit from both its lack of fixed fees and its data tools.

However, Zettle’s poor offering of readers with mobile data don’t make it suitable for mobile businesses, like food trucks. Unless you go for Zettle’s costliest reader (priced at £149 + VAT), you’ll be dependent on an external internet source to operate.

5. takepayments – Best for bespoke transaction fees

How cheap is takepayments?

takepayments’ has cheap rates in spades. Its starting transaction fee is bespoke and will be tailored to your business size / turnover. However, its account fee, though negotiable, starts at £20 + VAT, which makes it pricier than Retail Merchant Services’ (£10 + VAT).

This dents takepayments’ performance in the price category, where it ties with Zettle by scoring 4.1/5, though ultimately it loses out to this competitor on this list due to its account fee, which is something Zettle doesn’t charge.

It's worth noting that another strength of takepayments is its eight reporting tools and support of 170 currencies. With those, while it doesn't beat Zettle in price, it easily trumps its five reporting tools and support of 25 currencies. This, combined with its 16 third-party integrations, led to an outstanding 5/5 score in features.

The wide multi-currency support makes it a great provider for companies that are keen on growing internationally. However, for companies that need more hands-on support, its lack of an email support contact (like the one Zettle offers) is a clear disadvantage. This is because this extra support channel is helpful for business owners who want to reach out with a query but don't have time to sit on the phone or a live chat channel.

Fees to watch out for when taking payments

You should watch out for different merchant account fees – such as transaction fees, conversion rates, and termination fees – when choosing a provider.

All the providers featured in the article charge different fees for in-person and online payments, except Tyl, which charges 1.6% for both. You should bear your business’ profile in mind when considering their difference.

If your business operates internationally, it’s a good idea to read the fine print of the providers’ conversion rates. While all of the merchant account companies featured here accept multi-currencies (apart from Tyl), they might charge you extra fees depending on the currency you’re paid in.

Also, picking a traditional provider instead of a mobile can be money-saving when it comes to transaction fees, but they do operate via fixed-term contracts that come with termination fees. Retail Merchant Services and takepayments, for example, require you to pay out your existing contract to get out of it – which isn’t ideal if you’re starting a high-risk venture.